Engraving instrument used in map



Feb. 21, 1956 H. K. ADAMS 2,735,177

ENGRAVING INSTRUMENT USED IN MAP MAKING Filed Oct. 14, 1953IIIIIIIIIIIHHIL High '1 3/ I R 3 Zj 24 68 35230 as 23 v 6 I INVENTORHAEOL DKADAMS ATTORNEY ENGRAVING DISTRUMENT USED IV MAP MAKING Harold K.Adams, Brentwood, Md.

Application October 14, 1953, Serial No. 386,082

8 Claims. (Cl. 30-1643) This invention relates to engraving instrumentsor tools used in making maps.

Since the advent of aerial photography a new and less expensive mapmaking procedure has come into practice. Briefly stated, the newprocedure is to take photographs from airplanes of the area to be mappedand these photographs are placed on a transparent glass top of a tableor the like with illuminating means beneath the top; and over thephotographs are placed sheets of transparent acetate or similar materialwith a semi-transparent coating which may be scratched by suitabletools. The light beneath the table top will enable the operator to seethrough the coated sheet the roads, rivers, shore lines, buildings andother land-marks so that they may be reproduced or represented on thesheet by scratching off portions of the coating on the sheet byappropriate scratching tools. These scratched sheets are then used inthe making of the desired map from which reproductions may be made.

One of the tools used for scratching the film or coating on thesetransparent sheets resembles the caster or contour pens used bydraftsmen in map making. Such devices comprise a pen carrier which maybe conveniently grasped by the fingers and which has a three pointrolling or sliding contact with the drawing paper, the pen beingconnected to the carrier or handle by a swivel joint and offset in themanner of an ordinary roller caster. 1n the prior scratching tools whichare similar to these caster penholders, a scratching blade issubstituted for the pen on the swiveled arm, the blade being detachablymounted on the arm since many blades having scraping ends of difierentsizes and shapes must be used. Some of these interchangeable blades havepointed ends for making fine lines but most of them have points withflat ends for making wider scratches, while still others have doublepoints for simultaneously making two equally spaced or parallelscratches. The lengths of the blunt or flat scratching ends or points ofthese blades vary in thousandths of inches, and the width of a scratchedline on the coated sheet has significance in the reading of the map. Forexample, where the scratched lines represent roads or high ways, a lineof one width may represent an unpaved country road while a wider linemay represent a paved express highway.

In the use of these scratching tools for making scratches to representfor example, a road, it is important that the flat scratching extremityof the blade be parallel with the surface of the sheet so that thescratch or line made will be the full length of that particular bladeend which may represent a certain type of road, and also so that all ofthe coating throughout the width of the scratch will be removed from theacetate sheet. If the flat scraping end of the blade is at an angle tothe plane of the sheet, the scratch made will not be of uniform widthand depth. In the past when such a blade was clamped or fastened .to theswiveled arm and its fiat cutting end was at an angle to the top of thesheet when the tool was ited States. Patent" 2,735,177 Ice PatentedFeb.'21 1956 positioned on the latter for use, it was necessary to grindoff a portion of the flat end so that it would be parallel with thesheet when in use. These scratching blades are made of such hard metalor metal alloy that it requires considerable time and effort to grindthem. Further the grinding operation usually changed the length of thefiat scratching end so that the blade after being ground would not makea scratch of the desired width and hence the blade could not serve itsintended purpose.

One object of the invention is to provide in a scratching tool of thecharacter above indicated, means for quickly and easily positioning theflat scraping end of the blade relative to the support or holder so thatit will make the proper scratch in the coating, thus obviating thenecessity of any grinding operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide between the blade carryingarm and the vertical pivot or shaft about which the arm swings,adjustable means that will permit the blade to be positioned so that itwill make the desired scratch.

Another object is to provide an adjustment of the character above statedwhich permits the upright blade to be angled in the direction of thelength of its flat end, or transversely of such length, or in bothdirections so that the flat end will squarely engage the sheet.

Another object is to provide improved scratching blades and improvedblade mounting means on the swiveled arm which will enable any of thevarious blades having different kinds of scratching ends or point to bequickly and easily fastened to the arm with their scratching endsuniformly positioned on the arm.

Another object is to provide a caster-type scratching tool with amagnifying lens mounted on the pivot shaft which carries the swingingarm so that the lens will move with the latter as it swings in the useof the tool.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, the inventionresides in the novel combinations and arrangements of parts and thenovel features of construction hereinafter described and claimed, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings which show the presentpreferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a caster-type scratching tool made inaccordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view;

Fig. 3 is a detail vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale taken onthe line 3-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional View taken on the line44 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail vertical sectional view taken on the line 55 in Fig.3; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged side or face view of one of the scratching bladeshaving a scraping end of different shape from the blade shown in theprevious views.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the numeral 10 denotes as awhole a support or carrier, it an upright pivot or shaft rotatablethereon, 12 a horizontal swingable arm on the lower end of the shaft,and 13 a scraping or engraving blade on the outer end of the arm. Thebody of the support or holder it) may be of any suitable form to begrasped by the fingers and moved over the coated sheet, but as shown, itcomprises a flat generally triangular base 14 with an upright plate orrib 15 extending in a forward and rearward direction and having itsfront end 16 extending beyond the base. In this extension is a verticalbore lined with a bushing 17 in which the shaft 11 rotates. The holder10 has a three point support on the coated sheet by means of the blade13 and two legs 18 which extend downwardly from the rear corners of thebase 14 and are equally spaced from the longitudinal center of thedevice and from the axis '11 about which the arm swings. The legs 18slide'over the surfaceof the coating and preferably have at their lowerends balls 19 for rolling contact with the coating. Thus the body of theholder may have a slight rocking or tilt ing movement on thetransversely alined balls to permit the fingers to apply a downwardpressure on the engraving or scraping end of the blade.

All the interchangeable blades usable on the arm 12 are .of the sameconstruction except for the size and shape of their lower engraving orscraping ends, their construction being such that when each blade isclamped on the arm, its flat scraping end or ends will be the samedistance below the arm and will be parallel with the length of the arm.The blades 13 are small pieces of very hard and thin sheet steel orother suitable metal. They are of generally rectangular shape with theirlower ends downwardly tapered and formed with a scraping extremity ofthe desired size and shape. The upper portions of the bodies of theblades are also reduced in size to provide intermediate laterallyprojecting wings 21 forming upwardly facing shoulders 22. The bladetudinally spaced and alined cutting extremities 23 for making twoscratches which are equally spaced or parallel.

In order to clamp the interchangeable blades on the arm 12 so that eachwill be in the same relative position, the outer portion 24 of the armis of rectangular shape and formed with a central inwardly extendingvertical slot 25 to provide two parallel rectangular side portions '26.The outer end portion of the arm is thus forked, and in the opposedinner faces .of the two branches 26 are formed vertical grooves 27 of awidth to snugly receive the upright edges of the body portion 20 of theblade. That portion is slid upwardly into the transverse alined groovesuntil the shoulders 22 engage the flat bottom faces of the branches 26.All blades are thus uniformly positioned on the arm in a plane at rightangles to its length so that their flat scraping ends 23 will be thesame distance below the longitudinal axis of the arm and will also be atright angles to that axis. The arm is made of metal and in order tosecurely fasten the blade :1 headed screw 29 may be used to spring thebranches 26 sufficiently to clamp the portion 20 in the grooves. Thescrew is transversely disposed in the intermediate portions of thebranches, passing through an opening in one branch and engaging athreaded hole in the other, as will be understood upon reference to Fig.2.

For the purpose of overcoming the past frequent necessity of grindingoff a portion of the fiat scraping 'end of the blade so that said endwill be parallel with the coated surface of the sheet, there is providedbetween the blade and the support an adjustable means for angling theblade. That is preferably done by providing between the arm and itsshaft, means which will permit the arm to be angled laterally and alsotilted verticallly. That arm adjusting means may include a transversepivot 30 on which the arm may svw'ng vertically and which is carried bya coupling member 31 which in turn is mounted on a pivot 32 carried bythe lower end of the shaft 11, the pivot 32 extending in the directionof the length of the arm so that when the member 31 swings on its pivotthe arm will be tilted sidewise or laterally. The pivots 30 and 31 arenot only disposed at right angles to each other but also intersect thelongitudinal axis of the shaft 11, as seen in Fig. 3. The coupling 31which may be cylindrical in form, has in its bottom a diametricallyextending channel 33 and in its top a similar channel 34,

the two channels being at right angles to and partially intersectingeach other. The rear or inner portion 35 of the arm 12 is reduced and ofrectangular shape to be received in the lower channel 33 and to have alimited swinging movement on the pivot pin 30. The upper channel 34similarly receives a rectangular cross-head 36 formed on the lower endof the shaft 11 and transversely apertured to receive the pivot-pin 32so that the coupling has a limited swinging movement on the cross-head.To control these swinging movements of the coupling and the arm, andhence to adjust the flat scraping end or ends of the blade, twoadjusting screws 37 are threaded through the end portions of thecross-head 36 so that their extremities will thrust against the bottomof the channel 34 on opposite sides of'the pivot 32, and two similarscrews 33 are threaded through the arm portion 35 on opposite sides ofthe pivot 30 so that their extremities will thrust against the bottom ofthe channel 33. It will thus be seen that by adjusting the screws 37 thearm 12 may be laterally tilted to permit the length of the flat scrapingend of the blade to be positioned parallel with the sheet to bescratched and that by adjusting the screws 38, the outer end of the armmay be raised or lowered to permit the entire area of the flat scrapingend to contact with the sheet. 7

Since a magnifying glass is usually used when these scratching tools areemployed, such a glass may be mounted on the upper end of the shaft 11so as to move with the arm when it swings horizontally. As shown amagnifying lens 40 is mounted in a frame 41 with a laterally projectingarm or shank 42 apertured to receive a reduced and screw threadedportion 43 at the upper end of the shaft 11. When the frame 41 is madeof plastic, the aperture is in a metal sleeve or bushing 44 moulded inthe shank. An internal shoulder 45'is formed in the sleeve engaging ashoulder on the shaft formed by reducing the upper end 43. A milled nut46 is threaded on the end 43 to rigidly clamp the sleeve against theshoulder and adjustably fasten the frame to the shaft.

The parts are so dimensioned that when the nut is tight the shaft 11will be rotatably held in the bushing or bearing 17 without any bindingof the ends of the latter with either the sleeve 44 or the crosshead 36.When the lens is not desired, a washer similar to the sleeve 44 may beused, or the shoulder on the shaft may be lowered so that an ordinarywasher may engage the shoulder and prevent endwise movement of theshaft.

The use and operation of the tool has been fully set forth in theforegoing detailed description of the preferred construction; and itwill be apparent that the tool may be effectively used in making curvedand crooked scratches.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,it will be seen that novel and .advantageous provision has been made forcarrying out the objects of the invention, and while preferences havebeen disclosed, attention is invited to the possibility of makingvariations within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. in an engraving instrument of the character set forth, thecombination of a support slidable on 2. flat coated surface, a lateralarm carried by said support and swingable about an upright axis, anupright scratching tool movable with said arm and having a scraping endextending transversely of said arm, said arm having means for removably.holding said tool, adjustable means to angle said tool and dispose itstransversely extending scraping end in a plane parallel to the coatedsurface over which the instrument is moved, said support being elongatedin a forward and rearward direction and having laterally spaced legs atits rear, said axis for the arm being a shaftrotatable in the front ofsaid support and having said arm on its lower end, said adjustable meansbeing interposed between said tooland the axis of saidswinging arm andcomprising a cross-head carried by the lower end of said shaft, acoupling member, a pivot connecting said cross-head to said couplingmember, a second pivot connecting said arm to said coupling member, thetwo pivots being disposed at right angles to each other with oneextending in the direction of said arm and the other extendingtransversely of said arm, screws in said crosshead on opposite sides ofthe first mentioned pivot to engage fixed portions of said couplingmember, and other screws in said arm on opposite sides of said secondpivot to engage fixed portions of said coupling member.

2. The structure of claim 1 together with a magnifying glass fixed tothe upper end of said shaft and disposed over said tool holding means toswing with said arm.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which said tool is a flat blade havingparallel side edges with lateral shoulders, and in which said toolholding means comprises laterally spaced branches at the free end ofsaid arm formed with opposed upright grooves to slidably receive theedges of said blade, said shoulders being engaged with fixed portions ofsaid branches to limit the sliding movement of the blades in saidgrooves.

4. A tool adjusting means for an engraving instrument of the type forscratching a coating on a flat sheet and having a horizontally elongatedbody to be grasped by the fingers and moved over a flat sheet, the bodycarrying an upright scratching tool at its front and means at its rearto support the body for sliding and tilting movement on a flat sheet,said tool adjusting means comprising in combination an upright shaft,means rotatably mounting the shaft at the front of the body of theinstrument, a tool carrying arm of rigid material disposed horizontallyin a plane below the lower end of said shaft and extending laterallyfrom the axis of said shaft, upright scraping tool means at the outerend of said arm and having a scratching edge portion which extends in adirection transversely of the longitudinal plane of said arm, and auniversal joint connection between the inner end of said arm and saidshaft, whereby said transverse scratching edge portion may be tiltedboth longitudinally and transversely.

5. The structure of claim 4 in which said universal joint connectioncomprises a cross head carried by the lower end of said shaft, acoupling member, a pivot connecting said cross-head to said couplingmember, a second pivot connecting said arm to said coupling member, thetwo pivots being disposed at right angles to each other with oneextending in the direction of said arm and the other extendingtransversely of said arm, screws in said cross-head on opposite sides ofthe first mentioned pivot to engage fixed portions of said couplingmember, and other screws in said arm on oppsite sides of said secondpivot to engage fixed portions of said coupling member.

6. A tool adjusting means for an engraving instrument of the type forscratching a coating on a fiat sheet and having a horizontally elongatedbody to be grasped by the fingers and moved over a flat sheet, the bodycarrying an upright scratching tool at its front and means at its rearto support the body for sliding and tilting movement on a flat sheet,said tool adjusting means comprising in combination an upright shaft,means rotatahly mounting the shaft at the front of the body of theinstrument, a tool carrying arm of rigid material disposed horizontallyin a plane below the lower end of said shaft and extending laterallyfrom the axis of said shaft, the outer end of said arm being bifurcatedto provide two branches yieldable toward each other, an uprightscratching tool plate set transversely between said branches, screwmeans hetween-said branches to clamp the tool plate, said tool platehaving at its lower end a scratching portion which extends in adirection transversely of the longitudinal plane of said arm, and auniversal joint connection between the inner end of said arm and saidshaft comprising a cross head carried by the lower end of said shaft, acoupling member, a pivot connecting said cross head to said couplingmember, a second pivot connecting said arm to said coupling member, thetwo pivots being disposed at right angles to each other with oneextending in the direction of said arm and the other extendingtransversely of said arm, screws in said cross-head on opposite sides ofthe first mentioned pivot to engage fixed portions of said couplingmember, and other screws in said arm on opposite sides of said secondpivot to em gage fixed portions of said coupling member.

7. A tool adjusting means for an engraving instrument of the type forscratching a coating on a flat sheet and having a horizontally elongatedbody to be grasped by the fingers and moved over a fiat sheet, the bodycarrying an upright scratching tool at its front and means at its rearto support the body for sliding and tilting movement on a flat sheet,said tool adjusting means comprising in combination an upright shaft,means rotatably mounting the shaft at the front of the body of theinstrument, a tool carrying arm of rigid material disposed horizontallyin a plane below the lower end of said shaft and extending laterallyfrom the axis of said shaft, upright scraping tool means at the outerend of said arm and a universal joint connection between the inner endof said arm and said shaft comprising a cross-head rigid with the lowerend of said shaft and extending transversely thereof, a coupling member,a pivot connecting said crosshead to said coupling member, a secondpivot connecting said arm to said coupling member, the two pivots beingdisposed at right angles to each other with one extending in thedirection of said arm and the other extending transversely of said arm,screws in said cross-head on opposite sides of the first mentioned pivotto engage fixed portions of said coupling member, and other screws insaid arm on opposite sides of said second pivot to engage fixed portionsof said coupling member.

8. The structure of claim 7 in which said shaft projects above the topof the instrument body and has a reduced screw threaded end forming ashoulder, a magnifying glass disposed above the outer end of said armand mounted in a frame, a sleeve on said frame tele scoped over theupper end of said shaft and engaged with said shoulder, and a nut on thethreaded end of said shaft to clamp said frame on the shaft and causethe magnifying glass to swing with said arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,005,637 Friebertshauser Oct. 20, 1911 1,775,813 Colby Sept. 16, 19302,178,755 Johnson Nov. 7, 1939 2,455,972 Bowditch Dec. 14, 1948 2,47,376 Crawford Apr. 3, 1951

